Links for this article
- UNESCO Press release
- UNESCO General Conference - 33rd session
- UNESCO's 60th Anniversary
- UNESCO: 60 years of culture
- Cultural diversity fills conference agendas (The Power of Culture, July 2005)
- Mike van Graan, The proposed Convention on Cultural Diversity: a developing world perspective (The Power of Culture, May 2005)
- Unesco Convention on Cultural Diversity in the Making (The Power of Culture, March 2005)
- World Trade agreements threaten cultural diversity (The Power of Culture, December 2004)
- Our Creative Diversity (chapters from the UNESCO report, 1995)
Articles 2003 - 2010
UNESCO convention on cultural diversity approved
At the end of October, with 148 yeas, 2 nays and 4 abstained votes, UNESCO approved the convention on cultural diversity: the 'Convention on the protection and promotion of diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions'. The convention is intended to protect local culture. Its approval was preceded by years of meetings and negotiations.
Economic interests played an important part in the negotiations. Smaller countries benefit from the protection of their culture, while countries with a large market, such as the United States, benefit from the liberalisation of trade.
Canada and France in particular took care to ensure that certain goods would be considered cultural expressions: books, movies, and even the French foie gras (goose liver spread).
The United States and Israel opposed the convention. Its opponents believe that the convention treats culture too much as a type of economic goods and as something that takes place within a country's borders. The US claimed that the convention is an obstruction to cultural exchange.
The actual consequences of the convention are unclear. Will there be less Halloween on Dutch television and more Sint Maarten?
UNESCO is currently celebrating the organisation's 60th anniversary. Sixty themes are highlighted during a period of sixty weeks. Sixteen of these weeks are devoted to culture.